Coin receiver



L. L. EPSTEIN Feb, 28, 1961 COIN RECEIVER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March20, 1959 Feb. 28, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 20, 1959 COINREQEIVER Louis L. Epstein, 504 (llinton Ave, Newark, NJ.

Filed Mar. 20, 1959, der. No. 800,755

1 Claim. (Cl. 232-1) This invention relates to a removable coin receiverfor coin-operated machines, such as music boxes and cigarette dispensingmachines, for example.

An accomplished object of the invention is the provision of a coinreceiver from which coins may not be extracted except in an authorizedmanner; unless the receiver is damaged, thus ensuring that thecoin-containing receiver will be taken from the machine and deliveredintact by a collector to his employer.

The mentioned receiver comprises a coin-holding receptacle, as a bag forexample, which is releasably locked to a coin hopper, the latter havinga series of gates permitting the falling of coins into said receptaclebut preventing the removal of the coins by inversion or by a fishingtool.

The drawings illustrate one form of the invention, and in these:

Figures 1 and 2 are respectively top and bottom plan views of the coinreceiver;

Figure 3 is a side elevation, partly broken away;

Figures 4 and 5 are broken elevations of the two ends;

Figure 6 is a vertical section from end to end, the coin receiving bagbeing shown fragmentarily;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary vertical section on line 77 of Figure 6;

Figure 8 is a section on broken line 88 of Figure 6; and

Figure 9 is a detail view showing the locking of the bag to the topplate of the receiver.

Referring to the drawings for a detailed description, the numeral 1%indicates a top,or cover plate which has an oblong aperture Ill for thereception of coins. The cover plate also holds a key-operated lock 12. Akey 15 is shown in Figure 6 as inserted into the lock. The cover hasdepending flanges 16 around it. A coin receptacle, illustrated as a bag18, is sewed at its upper edge to a correspondingly shaped frame 19 ofstout wire which fits snugly into the cover plate just inside flanges 16of the latter. The cover plate fits into a frame 20 which has uprightflanges 21 surrounding flanges 16 of the cover (Figures 1, 6 and 8).From the upper edge of one end of flange 21 of frame Zil, a horizontalretaining flange 22 (Figures 1 and 6) extends inwardly, and one end ofplate is placed under this flange, to be retained thereby at that end.The other end of plate 1% holds the key operated lock 12, which has aturnable bolt 24- under the cover plate. The bolt is turnable by the keyunder a keeper 25 which rises from the inner edge of one end offrame-the end adjacent bolt 24 of the lock, the keeper being best shownin Figure 9. The entrance of the bolt under the keeper pushes a verysmall part of the bag before it under the keeper, as shown in Figure 8.The bag or coin receptacle is thereby locked to the cover plate.

Secured to, and depending from, the cover plate 10 is a coin hopper 30which is within the bag and is open top and bottom to receive coins anddischarge them into atent Patented Feb. 28, 1961 the bag. The hopper maybe described as having a top portion comprising oppositely and inwardlyinclined plates 32 and a body portion thereunder, all of which aresecured to the cover plate 10. The inclined plates are spaced apart attheir lower edges to provide an upper coin slot. The body of the hopperis oblong in cross section and comprises ends 33 and sides 34, thelatter being flat. The ends 33 are similar to each other and comprisedownwardly and inwardly sloping upper portions 35 lying under inclinedplates 32, vertical intermediate portions and inwardly and downwardlyinclined lower end portions 36. The latter are spaced apart to provide acoin slot for the exit of coins into the coin bag. Directly below thementioned upper coin slot, and adjacent thereto, a shaft 38 has its endsmounted in the ends 33 of the hopper body and on this shaft are mounteda series of spaced, parallel gates in the form of wedge-shaped plates 42adapted to separately and freely move from side to side, spacers 43being mounted on the shaft between adjacent plates. The diameter of thespacers and of the upper ends of the plates is larger than the width ofthe coin slot thereabove, to direct coins to the sides of the gates. Thelower edges of the gates are within the lowermost part of the hopper andare wider than the coin slot therebelow, and the ends of the edges arespaced from the sides of the hopper to an extent just sufficient forcoins to pass. It will be noted that the inclined plates 32 constitutingthe top portion of the hopper extend down into the body of the same andthereby form internal pockets (Fig. 6) so that, if an attempt is made toshake out coins by inverting the device, and in the event that a fewcoins may pass the gates, which is improbable, they will be caught insaid pockets. It is also to be noted that by having the platesindependently pivoted, one group of plates may move to the right and theother to the left, so that coins falling to both sides of the plates mayfall through on opposite sides of the plates.

What is claimed is:

Coin receiving and retaining means comprising a coin hopper, a coinreceptacle around and depending from the hopper, the hopper comprising abody portion and a top portion, the latter comprising opposed,downwardly and inwardly inclined plates spaced at their lower edges toprovide a single coin slot, a horizontal shaft mounted in said bodyportion of the hopper directly below and adjacent and parallel to saidcoin slot, at single composite gate comprising a series of parallelplates depending from said shaft and individually freely swingable fromside to side, to allow passage of coins, said body portion of the hopperopen at the bottom, said inclined plates of said top portion of thehopper forming angular pockets with the upper part of said body portionby extending thereinto, whereby, in an attempt to obtain coins from saidreceptacle by inverting the latter and the hopper, said plates directany coins which might pass them into said pockets, said parallel platesbeing wedge-shaped with their wider ends lowermost, the lower part ofsaid body portion of the hopper inclined inwardly from two sides towardthe edges of said plates, the bottom opening of said portion narrowerthan the width of the lower ends of the plates, said coin receptablecomprising a frame and a bag secured at its upper end to the frame.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS450,379 Sinclaire Apr. 14, 1891 480,108 Loch Aug. 2, 1892 1,063,758 YeoJune 3, 1913 1,110,268 Mitten Sept. 8, 1914 2,721,030 Hayes Oct. 18,1955

